About the program
The Diamant resilience training is based on the observation that many young Muslims in the Netherlands feel treated unjustly because of their ethnicity or religion. The training aims to increase an individual's resilience to violent extremism by:
- strengthening participants’ self-esteem
- increasing their:
- agency
- perspective taking skills
- empathy.
The training consists of 3 modules conducted over 3 months. Certified trainers work with adolescents in groups of about 15.
Key takeaways
A longitudinal evaluation of 46 male and female Muslim youth who participated in the training found:
- participants reported a significant increase in agency
- a marginal increase in reported self‐esteem, empathy and perspective taking, but also narcissism
- significantly lower attitudes toward ideology‐based violence and their own violent intentions
- higher reports of empathy related to less positive attitudes toward ideology‐based violence.
These results suggest that an intervention aimed at:
- empowering individuals
- strengthening empathy
is successful in countering violent radicalisation. Participants were not members of extremist groups and did not show signs of radicalisation.
Relevant reports
Increasing self-esteem and empathy to prevent violent radicalization: a longitudinal quantitative evaluation of a resilience training focused on adolescents with a dual identity, Feddes, Allard, Mann, Liesbeth & Doosje, Bertjan, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 10 March 2015